Monthly Archives: February 2012

A 41-year-old Shell man has been charged with attempted second-degree murder and two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon after he allegedly stabbed another Shell man during a bar fight Friday night at the Antler Inn.

Raymond Ryan Tatom was arrested on Saturday and made his initial court appearance on Wednesday morning.

During that hearing, bond was set at $1 million and a preliminary hearing was scheduled for 11 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 8.

The other combatant in the bar fight, Tim Mills, 60, was transported from the scene to South Big Horn Hospital, then on to Washakie Medical Center in Worland where he remained hospitalized on Wednesday.

Tim’s wife Anita said he was moved out of the intensive care unit on Sunday, but that he is by no means “out of the woods,” citing his other health issues and the severity of the stab wounds, the worst of which were to his abdominal area.

“He was already a sick man (with several different health conditions) … and this is not going to help him,” she said.

Police were called to the Antler Inn, which sits in the middle of Shell on U.S. Highway 14, at 9:22 p.m. on Friday following a report of a fight in which a man had been stabbed with a knife, according to Big Horn County Sheriff Ken Blackburn.

Blackburn said police do not know for certain who threw the first punch or what the fight was about, just that at some point in the altercation, Mills ended up on top of Tatom.

It was that point, Blackburn said, that Tatom allegedly pulled his knife and stabbed Mills.

Other patrons in the bar — owner Al Martin said there were about eight or nine people in there at the time — were able to break up the fight, and in the aftermath of the stabbing, they provided critical care for Mills until ambulance personnel arrived on scene.

Blackburn described the weapon as a “folding, lock-blade knife.”

One patron, in particular, was credited for his fast thinking. A former EMT, he took possession of the knife until authorities arrived, and using rubber gloves retrieved from his vehicle, re-inserted Mills’ inner organs and continued to apply pressure until emergency personnel arrived on scene.

Blackburn said Tatom left the bar immediately after the stabbing, returning to his home.

Not long after that, dispatch received a call from the home where Tatom was living, requesting medical attention for him as well.

Blackburn said sheriff’s deputies responded, and that like Mills, he too was transported initially to South Big Horn Hospital, where he was treated and released that same night.

Blackburn said that after Mills, Tatom’s medical care was “first and foremost” in the minds of his deputies, and that there was initially some concern about an injury to his neck.

Tatom was arrested the next day after law enforcement officials interviewed eyewitnesses who reported that they had heard Tatom threatening to kill Mills.

Blackburn said his department is continuing its investigation.

One eyewitness told authorities that Tatom had made derogatory comments about Mills’ family. At one point, Mills left the bar. When he went back inside, the dispute reignited and eventually led to the start of the fistfight, Blackburn said.

Martin, who owns the Antler Inn, supported the eyewitness’s account of the fight and said he never felt like Tatom’s life was in jeopardy.

Martin called the experience “very traumatic” for him and the patrons in his bar, but that he was thankful for the way everyone on scene responded, from breaking up the fight to assisting Mills.

Blackburn credited the Greybull Police Department for the response of one of its officers, Shannon Armstrong, to the scene, and the Basin Police Department for keeping watch over Greybull while the Greybull officer was in Shell.

Martin, too, credited all of the emergency responders for their quick arrival on scene.

Anita Mills said Tuesday that when she arrived at the bar after the fight she found her husband lying on the floor “with his large intestines hanging out.” The aforementioned EMT was by his side, rendering aid.

Tim lost a lot of blood — more than a pint, said Anita.

“He has an infection, which they say is normal in a situation like this, so they are giving him antibiotics,” she said. “When the knife went in, it broke the inner lining of his abdomen. It also ripped away a piece of his liver, so they needed to repair that too.”

Tim also suffered a bruised pancreas during the altercation, Anita said.

Kevin and Brenda Peterson of Emblem made quite a name for themselves in their first full year of competition with the Park County Kart Club.

The only “Niners” in the club, Brenda walked away with first place in the Women’s division and second in the Mixed B division, while her husband Kevin claimed trophies for finishing second in the Men’s B and third in the Mixed B.

Quite a first year.

“We just had a lot of fun,” said Brenda of the 10-race series of kart races. Riders on the circuit accumulated points based on their finishes in the 10 races — eight of which were held at the Park County Fairgrounds, the other two at the Emblem beet dump location.

Brenda was one of “eight to 10” riders in the Women’s division, so her win was particularly impressive, especially considering it came in her first full year. There are three divisions on the Men’s side — A, B and C — and Kevin’s second place finish came in the middle classification.

The club is looking forward to another exciting year of racing in 2012. Kevin has been elected club president, and already plans are in the works for another full slate of races.

The club will be returning to the Emblem race site at least twice this year, including during the Days of ’49 celebration. Brenda said an “outlaw class” is being added this year. Those karts, which have two stroke, 500 cc motors, can travel at speeds of up to 80 mph, she said.

There’s something about that trip across the mountain to play at Tongue River High School.

Greybull teams have historically had a tough time winning there — and that proved to be the case again on Saturday as the homestanding Eagles rallied to erase a nine-point halftime deficit and notch a 72-64 win over the Buffs.

It was the second loss in a three-game span for the Buffs, who dropped to 12-5 overall.

More important, it was the third straight year the Buffs were turned away in Dayton. Their last win there was in 2009.

“We had our opportunities to be up by more than nine (at the half),” said Coach Jim Prather. “I think (at 39-30), with the style they play, (the Eagles) felt like they were in the game and that things were going the way they wanted them to go.”

The Buffs had things working early. After one, it was 21-13, largely on the strength of Austin Frazier. The senior hit two three-balls and scored 12 points in the first quarter alone. By halftime, he had 17…and the Buffs were in the driver’s seat.

Defensively, they had limited Tongue River’s Stephen Yellowtail to just four points.

“He was our point of emphasis throughout the week,” Prather said.

The Eagles began chipping away at the Buff lead in the third — and were within two, at 51-49, going into the fourth. That’s when the tide turned. Held to six through the first three quarters, Yellowtail heated up, netting 16 of Tongue River’s points in a decisive 25-13 fourth-quarter run.

“Everything we had done well defensively in the first half went by the wayside, especially in the fourth quarter,” Prather said. “More than anything, I can attribute that to just being worn down. They ran us into the ground, got us tired to the point where we weren’t able to defend any more.”

When fresh, the Buffs “denied (Yellowtail’s) cuts to the basket and forced him to go where he didn’t want to go.” But in the fourth, “He got to the spots he wanted to get to … he’s a great offensive player.”

It wasn’t a bad shooting night for the Buffs. They hit 42 percent of their field goal attempts.

“But our 40 percent didn’t compare to their close to 60-percent (shooting) in the second half,” Prather said. “We had more field goal attempts than they did, we outrebounded them, especially in the second half. We just weren’t able to get the stops we needed defensively.”

Prather reiterated that Tongue River is a good offensive club, and while the Buffs like playing at a faster tempo, they got caught up in a shootout. “To look up at the scoreboard (at the half) and see 30 points allowed … that’s not what we expect,” Prather said. “It wasn’t the kind of defensive effort that characterizes our ballclub.”

Turnovers also contributed to the loss, as Greybull finished with 27 miscues.

That, too, may have been a result of conditioning. As the one who organizes practices, Prather shouldered the blame for that, and said it would be an area of emphasis this week in practice. On a more positive note, he said, “It’s been a few years since we went over the mountain and scored points at all,” he said. “So in that sense, we did take something positive out of it. But you have to be able to shut the other team down, too. For a team that takes as much pride in defense as we do, I’d say everybody was pretty disappointed leaving the gym.”

This week

The Buffs will have a tripleheader this week, as they host Class 2A Northwest Conference games against Riverside tonight (Thursday, Feb. 2) and Lovell Friday before hitting the road for a non-conference game against Wyoming Indian on Saturday.

“It’s a tough trio of games, to say the least,” Prather said. “We’re going to approach this week like it’s a tuneup for the regional. Every game is important. The first two will have a bearing on our seeding for the regional tournament. So the focus will be on Riverside and Lovell. But that third game in three days — that’s something we will have to do at regionals, and it’s going to be against a team we could possibly see at regionals.”

Prather was asked if he was concerned with his team’s recent play, and more specifically, its losses in the last two weeks to Rocky Mountain and Tongue River.

“Not at this point,” he said. “As I said last week, if you’re going to stumble, better to do it in January that in February or March. Tongue River’s been a tough place for us to play. I like to think of them as isolated occurrences. I don’t think we’ve peaked yet. The goal is to be playing our best by regionals. More than anything, I look at those two losses as opportunities to see where we need to improve.”

The varsity games against Riverside and Lovell will tip off around 7 p.m. Tip time Saturday in Ethete is 3 p.m.

Cremation has been held and the cremains of Barbara May Hill Williams will be buried next to her husband in Pinedale at a later date. Barbara, 75, died at her home in Basin on Jan. 15.

She was born Aug. 15, 1936, at Ellicottville, N.Y., the daughter of Guy and Inez Danford Hill. She worked as a medical secretary in Pinedale for many years and then was part-owner of Williams Automotive and Country Lane Convenience Store, also in Pinedale. In 2006, she moved to Basin to be near her son.

Her mother and father, her husband Robert in 1987, and a brother and sister preceded her in death.

She is survived by two sons and daughters-in-law, Mark and Jo Williams of West Valley City, Utah, and Bryan and Robin Williams of Basin; her daughter, Jean Gray of Pinedale; a sister, Beverly Bergey of Cattaraugus, N.Y., nine grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

Cremation has taken place and per his wishes no services are planned for Ralph G. “Skip” Lulue, who died at his home in Greybull Jan. 17.

He was born July 27, 1945, in Port Arthur, Texas, the son of Lloyd and Florence Alberta Smith Lulue of Silbee, Texas. He served in the U.S. Navy and was stationed in Africa during the Vietnam War. Skip spent six years in the National Guard prior to his service in the Navy.

He was a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of White Sulpher Springs, Mont., and the Eagles in Basin.

Skip enjoyed playing darts, fishing, dancing and cooking for his friends.

He is survived by his ex-wife and best friend, Dixie Lulue Langton of Clyde Park, Mont., eight grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

He will be deeply missed by Dixie and close friends in Greybull.

A potluck dinner for Skip’s friends will be held at the Silver Spur on Friday, Feb. 3 from 5:30 p.m. until closing.